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Clay Jensen
|image = 13 Reasons Why Character Poster Clay Jensen.jpg |age = 17 |status = Alive |portrayed_by = Dylan Minnette |seasons = One |first_appearance = Tape 1, Side A |last_appearance = Tape 7, Side A |relatives = Matt Jensen (Father) Lainie Jensen (Mother) |alias = Helmet (by Hannah) Mr. Jensen (by Mr. Porter) Jensen Astronomy Boy |gender = Male |occupation = Works at The Crestmont (with Hannah) |appears_in = Thirteen Reasons Why}} '''Clay Jensen' is a main character in the Netflix Original series ''13 Reasons Why''. He is a junior at Liberty High School. Before committing suicide, Hannah recorded several cassettes about why she felt a hand full of people contributed to her death. Clay received them as a package at his front door and spent the next few days listening to them, trying to piece together Hannah's story. Clay is the subject of Tape 6, Side A, although not as a reason for Hannah's suicide, unlike all the other tapes. At the end of his tape, she explains that Clay's name didn't belong on the list, but that she felt he needed to know the reasons behind her ultimate decision. Biography Early Life Little is known about Clay's early life. On his first shift at The Crestmont, he tells Hannah that he has lived in the town of Crestmont for his entire life when she asks him how he feels about the town. Clay was previously rumoured to be gay by other classmates at Liberty High School but these rumours appear to have died down before the events of "13 Reasons Why". Due to Clay's introverted character, he is known to not attend parties. At Hannah's House party, Kat tells Hannah that the last time she saw Clay at a party was at her birthday party in the 4th grade, actually betting against Clay attending the party. Clay may also have a history of depression or anxiety as his parents offer him Duloxetine in Tape 1, Side B which he has taken before for an unknown reason. Duloxetine is an antidepressant used to treat people who suffer from depression or general anxiety disorder which suggests Clay may have been in a bad state previously, potentially down to previous rumours of him being gay. Season One The first season follows Clay Jensen during his time with Hannah Baker's Tapes and his time with Hannah when she was alive. After the death of Hannah Baker, a fellow classmate of Clay's that he had a crush on, Clay started to hallucinate Hannah in the halls and classrooms of Liberty High School, the school that both Clay and Hannah attended. He first saw an image of Hannah looking at him in the halls and then later in Communications Class in her old seat. Hannah appeared in a brief flashback where Clay was complimenting Hannah on her new hairstyle after seemingly struggling to do so. Upon arriving home, Clay found a package addressed to him on his doorstep. Clay opens the package to find seven tapes and a map of Crestmont Town. After Clay borrows his father's boombox, he found that those tapes were from Hannah. Clay was visibly upset by this and was shocked when he heard that he was one of the reasons of why Hannah killed herself. Clay's mother appears behind him, causing him to jump in surprise as he paused the tape he was listening to. In a hurry to get to his room, Clay grabs the boombox before unplugging, thus causing it to fall on the ground. Since the boombox was now broke, Clay cycled over to Tony's house, to borrow his one. However, as Tony and his dad were distracted by Tony's car they were fixing, Clay then stole a Walkman from his friend Tony Padilla to listen to the first tape. After riding home from Tony's, Clay got into an accident that left him with a scar on his forehead. Throughout the first season, Clay used the cassette tapes along with the map Hannah provided to visit all locations mentioned by Hannah in her tapes. Clay had flashbacks of Hannah's interactions at each location such as on Tape 1, Side A, Clay saw Hannah with Justin Foley on the slide when they kiss. Clay's hallucinations also showed things that hadn't actually happened. In Tape 1, Side A, Clay saw the kiss between Hannah and Justin turn into something more based on the rumour that Hannah was a "Slut" and in Tape 3, Side A, Clay hallucinated a scenario in which he danced with Hannah at the Winter Formal but was stopped once Hannah's wrist began to bleed which was a symbol of her suicide. With each episode, Clay begins to interact with the person currently talked about in the tapes. For example, Clay only began to talk to Jessica after listening to her tape.Clay is seen to have breakdowns that become more frequent as the show progresses, due to this he has to take frequent breaks which Tony finds unusual. Tony tells Clay that he is the slowest by far to listen to the tapes as many of the previous listeners have finished it within a night. Clay begins to become a vigilante for Hannah by attempting to harm the others mentioned in the tapes. He takes pictures of Tyler Down's body and sends it around the school to make him suffer for what he did and takes Courtney Crimsen to Hannah's grave to make her feel guilt. Many of the others in the tapes become increasingly aware of this fact and try to stop Clay from attacking the others and make plans to try to stop him, such as having Alex Standall speed through traffic with Clay in the car to scare him. Throughout the series, we begin to see the development of Clay's relationship with Hannah in flashbacks which start with Clay's first day at the Crestmont Theatre with Hannah, from there we see their relationship form into something much more that as they develop feelings for each other. Clay's tape is Tape 6, Side A. This tape is incredibly hard for Clay to hear and Tony offers support throughout the listening session to prevent him from harming himself. At one point, Clay cannot listen further and so is taken to Monet's for a break. After hearing the full tape, Clay is distraught and actually considers suicide. Tony prevents this and Clay carries on with the tapes. Upon listening to Tape 6, Side B, Clay goes to Bryce's home to get a confession out of him. He originally enters his home under the premise of him buying weed from him, here he has a flashback of Hannah's rape. this leads Clay to accuse Bryce of the rape of Hannah which results in him getting beat up. Clay later recovers and asks Bryce for a confession. Bryce does confess to raping Hannah and Clay rides out of Bryce's neighbourhood incredibly happy as we later find out that Clay managed to record his confession on the last unused side of Hannah's tapes. This is incredibly important as it allows for Bryce to be arrested for the rape of Hannah. In Tape 7, Side A, Clay visits Mr. Porter and tells him about the last day of Hannah's life and her meeting with him. When asked about how he knows this, Clay produces the tapes and gives them to Mr. Porter who is the thirteenth reason on Hannah's list. After leaving the tapes with Porter, Clay reaches out to Skye Miller, a girl that Clay has interacted with throughout the show who is seen to be in a similar situation as Hannah due to the slits on her wrist. Clay asks if she would want to skip school with him in an attempt to help her like he should've helped Hannah. He takes a ride with Skye, Tony and his boyfriend Brad. At this point in the show, Clay has yet to attend his deposition. Personality Clay considers himself as socially awkward and usually doesn't talk much, while Hannah described him as just being scared. He is a good kid and doesn't usually give into peer pressure. Clay is determined to listen to the tapes made by Hannah to see why he is on the tapes and the reason why Hannah committed suicide. Throughout the course of the series, he slowly begins to become more and more "unstable", hallucinating things such as punching Zach or Hannah's dead body covered in blood in the middle of the basketball court. Clay also feels an obligation to avenge Hannah during the series by going after the others mentioned in the tapes. He brings Courtney to Hannah's grave in an attempt to hurt her and starts to become a bully when he sends pictures of Tyler's naked body around the school in an attempt to make him feel the same way Hannah and Courtney felt when he sent around an image of them kissing. Clay's Mistake (Reason #11) Clay is Hannah's eleventh reason for committing suicide. Clay spends the night with Tony, listening to his tape. Upon listening to it, one of the first things he finds out is that he shouldn't really be on the tape. He was the only one she was actually fond of, and while everyone else was on her hit list, she just wanted him to be on the tape because he was/is a part of her story. Clay and Hannah were about to have sex before Hannah starts remembering all the guys that did her wrong, and suddenly she can't escape from thinking everyone is against her. She has a mental breakdown and then tells him to stop, which he does before asking what's wrong. She yells at him to go away, which he does. On the tape, Hannah says a part of her was begging him to stay while she was yelling at him to leave. Clay is the only person on the tapes who did nothing wrong but he was included as a part of her story. In the beginning, ("Tape 1, Side A") Justin tells him he isn't as innocent as she says he is. He would be talking about the fact that Hannah says he shouldn't be on the tapes, but in her eyes, he just should've stayed. Physical Appearance Clay is tall and skinny, with short dark brown hair and blue-grey eyes. He has a scar on his temple from a biking accident early on in the series while listening to the tapes, which is how the audience can tell past from present, and he is rather anemic. He is often shown wearing jeans and a hoodie, and he wears button up shirts with pants to parties and a suit to the dance. Clay carries his grey backpack around with him a lot. Relationships Romantic Hannah= Clay and Hannah worked at the same movie theater, with Hannah initially training him. The two became acquainted over the summer after Hannah moved to Clay's town. Hannah throws a party at her house, which her friend Kat explains is the first party that Clay has attended since the fourth grade. Clay didn't do anything to Hannah. He was on the tapes because he was such a huge part in her life. Clay is often shown seeing Hannah as he's listening to the tapes. Friendships Hannah= Clay and Hannah are shown to be very good friends, Hannah and Clay attend their first party together, staying together most of the night, Clay was on of the only people Hannah could really be friends with despite the rumors, although Clay did once mess up by telling her that sometimes it's better to wait, believing into the rumors of her having sex with Justin for a minute, which hurt Hannah's feelings. |-| Tony= Clay and Tony are shown throughout the series, are shown to be friends who sometimes push each other to the edge, but remain tight friends throughout, Tony stays with Clay whilst Clay listens to his tape and stops him from wanting to throw himself off of the edge of a cliff after what he hears Hannah saying in the tapes. Tony is the only person who really tries to help Clay make smart decision without breaking Hannah's rules. |-| Kat= Clay and Kat have a distant friendship, before Kat moves away, he goes to Kat's going away party with Hannah, Kat mentions that the last party she saw Clay at was her birthday when she was in 4th grade (Year 5, 9-10 years old). Kat seems to be back on track with Clay and it seems like no time has passed, although they both point out that a lot of time has passed. Kat offers Hannah and Clay drinks, when Kat asks Clay what he wants to drink, Clay tells her Sprite, which Kat finds cute ('a gem'), and tells him he'll have a beer, to blend in with people. |-| Bryce= Bryce and Clay are shown to be acquaintances that see each other around school. Bryce tells Clay that he should buy beer instead of drinking soft drinks and fizzy drinks, under pressure Clay does, Bryce vouches for him buying his and Clay's drink with his I.D., Clay is then invited to a drinking contest with Alex, in which he gets drunk afterwards and has a hangover the next morning. Bryce and Clay don't always seem to be that friendly and it's more like a pressured relationship with them, if Clay had the choice of not knowing Bryce, it's a certainty that he wouldn't. Clay later finds out that Bryce raped Jessica, one of Hannah's best friends and later, one of his. Clay also find out a lot later that Bryce also raped Hannah, who he loves and cares about, but was too afraid to love her because he didn't really get her, but got Bryce to confess on a cassette tape and gave it to Mr. Porter as evidence, this obviously really seals the fact that Clay hates Bryce. |-| Justin= Justin and Clay, aren't ever actually friends but friends who don't class each other as friends. They don't hate each other, but they don't really like each other, but they are seen talking and interacting. Justin tells Clay that he isn't an innocent person, but Clay later finds out that he is more innocent that Justin is in the suicide of Hannah Baker, Justin is who first marks Hannah's downward spiral into suicide, Clay makes it clear to every person on the tape that they will pay for what they do. Justin being number one doesn't have a friendly relationship with Clay, at the end of the series, Clay tells Justin that he needs to tell Jessica what actually happened to her that night and stop doing what he thinks is "protecting" her, when really he is causing her pain. |-| Jessica= When we first see Clay and Jess interact it is because Clay is wondering why Justin isn't in school and why Jessica is such a mess over things, Clay doesn't actually know about the tapes at this point although it seems that most of them do. Towards the end of the series, we see Jessica and Clay form a friendship, Clay wants to get justice for Jessica and makes it her decision whether or not to burn the tapes, Clay also provides a sort of comfort for Jessica and is the only person who tries to tell her what happened that night but gets interrupted by everyone who doesn't want her to know. |-| Alex=Clay and Alex have unbalanced relationship, Alex is the only person that Clay actually tries to form a relationship with but is also hard on him for the way he made Hannah feel. |-| Courtney=Courtney and Clay had a very good friendship, she is shown in the first episode to be very caring about Clay and wanting to help him through things. He also showed to be very caring of her until he listened to her tape and understood what she did, he took her to the grave of where Hannah lies and made her feel like crap for what she did and then listened to why she did it, she doesn't seem to be forgiven, but Clay partially understand why she did what she did. |-| Tyler=Tyler and Clay's relationship is rocky throughout the series, Clay listens to Tyler's tape and takes a photo of him, naked, and shares it to the school, making him feel the same way he made Courtney and Hannah feel, which led to the downfall of Hannah's relationship with Courtney and the rise of the sexual rumors of Hannah. Family Laine= Clay and his mother get along, but she tends to invade his privacy and he tends to lie to her and try to hide things from her, he seems quite irritated when his parent try to get involved with what's going on with him, not knowing how to tell them what's happening, but also trying to understand it, before he can tell them. Clay's Mom later finds out at Tyler's deposition, that Clay currently has tapes of Hannah's reasons why she killed herself, which she is obviously shocked to find out. We don't know how their relationship continues after this. |-| Matt=Clay and his father get along, but it's the same relationship he has with his mother, slightly distant and less invasive of his privacy, they talk but he never pushes his son away or asks too many questions unless he demands them because he cares. Appearances Season One * * * * * * * * * * * * * Trivia *His favorite kind of music are obscure indie bands. *His favorite reading materials are fantasy and sci-fi. *Tyler is the only person who Clay publicly humiliates after learning he did the same to Courtney and Hannah. *Clay loved Hannah and still does. *Clay and Hannah were extremely close, to the point of nearly having sex at one point. *Similarly to Hannah, Clay also nearly had sex with Sheri while they were in his room working on an assignment together. *Clay has a scar on his forehead from an accident early in the show, this was done so that fans could easily distinguish between Clay in the present day and Clay during the flashbacks that happen frequently in the show. *He is the first person to find Jeff in the car accident that killed him. Gallery Tape-1-Side-A-3.jpg Tape 1, Side A Clay.PNG Tape 1, Side A Tony and Clay riding the mustang (2).PNG Tape 1, Side B.jpg Tape 1, Side A Clay and Justin.PNG Tape 2, Side A Clay and Hannah Baker.PNG Tape-3-Side-A-1.jpg Clay and Hannah.jpg|''Hannah and Clay laughing after Hannah makes a funny remark on his Dad.'' References Category:Characters Category:Main characters Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Males Category:Jensen Family